Just as in Northern Ireland, the reason that religion is important in the Middle East is that it is about so much more than religion. If the Middle East produces political change, without social change that is based on an open mind towards others, then it will have been a revolution half-formed and unfinished and the economic change, so vital to advancing the position of the people, will likewise fall short. Such change cannot come about with- out Islam – and indeed all of us – embracing the twenty-first century. It is therefore our job at this moment to reach out; to open not close our own minds; to push forward for justice and for peace; to partner the modernisers and give them hope; and it is their job to lead, to reach back, to show that respect and equality between people of all faiths and none is a purpose shared. This change can be managed over time and with care; but come it must. That is why, even with all the uncertainty
and even instability of the present time, we should be demonstrating renewed commit- ment to security for the state of Israel and the dignity of statehood for the Palestinians. Now is the time to prove that if peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is at an impasse, there is an overwhelming will to remove the blockage and press forward. Our ambitions must be bold, however hard they are to achieve.
W
herever you look today, reli- gion matters, nowhere more so than in the Middle East. Faith motivates. Understanding faith,
its adherents, its trends, its structures, can be as important as understanding a nation’s GDP, its business, its resources. Religious awareness is as important as gender or race awareness. For politicians, business people, or just ordinary interested citizens, to know about a country or a region’s faith perspective is an essential part of comprehending it. There are literally hundreds of websites –
well financed and well subscribed to – that promote the closed or even extreme view of the world and faith. My Faith Foundation attempts to promote the open view, based on a vision of respect and understanding between people of different religions. We have a schools project now in more than 15 countries with thousands of students, and a university pro- gramme with eight world-class universities and many more joining. This is just a start. An alliance of people of faith to support the Muslim majority against the threats that they and we now face is imper- ative. Today’s developments in the Middle East are inherently destabilising but in the longer term full of great promise. Even some Muslim modernisers share the temptation to assert that the West is disrespectful of Islam. One task of interfaith dialogue is to demon- strate beyond doubt that it is not.
■The Rt Hon Tony Blair was Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007 and is now Quartet Representative to the Middle East. He is patron and founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
(See Laurence Freeman, page 9.)
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